Data input device and method

ABSTRACT

A data input device and method for producing signals corresponding to symbols, comprises: at least one manually actuatable switch having a home state and manually actuatable from the home state to one of a set of first states and manually actuatable from the set of first states to one of a set of second states including the home state. A first signal corresponding to a transition from the home state to a selected one of the set of first states is produced and a second signal corresponding to a transition from the selected one of the set of first states to a selected one of the set of second states is produced. An output signal representing one symbol is produced in response to the first and second signals.

This application is a continuation of application Ser. No. 07/696,900,filed Apr. 16, 1991 now abandoned.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The invention relates generally to a data input method and a data inputdevice such as typewriter and data-entry keys and keyboards, keyboardsoperable with a single hand, keyboards with multi-character,multi-directional keys, and keyboards miniaturized for use withpocket-sized data-processing devices.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Standard keyboards for data-entry of text include an array of momentaryswitches, usually in 4 rows and 10 or 12 columns, with the center ofeach key usually spaced about 3/4 inches away from its neighbors. Almostall full-sized keyboards are arranged in the QWERTY pattern originatingwith Shole's (1860) patent, except for keyboards made for a smallfollowing of Dvorak's (1936) patent.

The conventional keyboard is designed for use by people with two handson full-sized typewriters. When adapted for use by one-handed persons,or miniaturized, this type of keyboard does not perform well.

In miniaturized keyboards in use with text-based calculators and pocketcomputers, the keys and their spacing are reduced to about 1/2 inch orless, resulting in the operator's speed of typing being greatlydiminished. The operator of such a keyboard loses the advantageous useof 8 or 9 fingers and primarily utilizes only the memory of whereparticular letters are located. This accounts for the popularity ofminiature keyboards in which the letters are arranged alphabetically.

In the prior art, the only principal to switch-array keyboards ischording keyboards. For chording keyboards, fingers must operate inparallel or simultaneously for each signal sent. Two patents relating tothis type of keyboard are Volnak (U.S. Pat. No. 4,467,321) for a 10-keychording keyboard, and Enfield & Rainey (U.S. Pat. No. 4,443,789), for a6-key chording keyboard with mnemonic coding.

The history of typewriting has seen several patents onmultiple-character-per-key keyboards, for example, Hesh (U.S. Pat. No.2,532,228), Samuel (U.S. Pat. No. 3,633,724) and Zapp (U.S. Pat. No.4,081,068). These patents are in the field of full-sized two-handedkeyboards, and furthermore use lateral motion of the fingers. Kroczynski(U.S. Pat. No. 4,517,424) describes a hand-held control device whichuses non-lateral motions, but does not describe any system for typing ortext entry.

Finally, the instant invention relates to pocket-sized devices withfull-screen displays. Lapeyre's (U.S. Pat. No. 4,324,976) appears to bedirected to rear-facing keyboards. The instant device, however, can beattached to the side of a display.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is a data input method and device preferablycomprising a miniature one-hand keyboard for rapid data-entry ofalphabetic, numeric, graphic, and control characters and means forproducing signals corresponding to the characters on the basis of astate transition or sequence. The invention overcomes disadvantages ofthe prior art keyboards and has many features not disclosed in the priorart. The five aspects mentioned below as well as others will becomeapparent through the disclosure:

1. The instant keyswitches are not describable by the prior artpole/throw terminology.

2. The use of multiple state transitions for encoding distinctcharacters has not been disclosed in the prior art.

3. The keyboard arrangement of keys herein for corresponding positionshave the letters for those positions arranged in easily memorized"words". The different arrangements have no overlapping letters and areuniquely well-suited to quick mastery of the keyboard.

4. The logic for the instant method of queuing by reservation to providerollover between fingers has not been disclosed in the prior art.

5. The overall construction of the keyboard to allow lateral attachmentto full-screen display pocket-sized data-processing equipment has notbeen disclosed in the prior art.

In accordance with the present invention a data input device forproducing signals corresponding to symbols is provided, comprising:

at least one manually actuatable switch having a home state and manuallyactuatable from the home state to one of a set of first states andmanually actuatable from the set of first state to one of a set ofsecond states including said home state;

means for producing a first signal corresponding to a transition fromthe home state to a selected one of the set of first states and forproducing a second signal corresponding to a transition from theselected one of the set of first states to a selected one of the set ofsecond states; and

output means for producing an output signal representing one symbol inresponse to the first and second signals.

The device preferably comprises a plurality of the one switchesconstituting symbol switches and further comprises a control switch forproducing a third signal and wherein the output means comprises meansfor producing the output signal representing one symbol in response tofirst and second signals from one symbol switch and the third signalfrom the control switch. The output means further comprises queuingmeans receptive of the first and second signals from the symbol switcheskeys for determining the order of the production of output signals basedupon the order of receipt of the first signals therefrom.

In one preferred embodiment of this invention, a six-position keyswitchis provided and positioned for each of four fingers. That is, there is akeyswitch for each finger. These keyswitches do not move laterally, butonly rock forward and back and move up and down. Through the use of anencoding mechanism for each character, not as a position, but as a path,each keyswitch can send seven (instead of five) characters using the sixpositions. Together, the four fingers can send 28 characters.

The thumb is equipped with a combination multidirectional shiftmechanism and space-bar. In one embodiment, the thumb can shift ormodify the 28 characters produced by the six-position keyswitch fiveways as well as produce a space-character. Thus, the keyboard canproduce a total of 141 characters, more than enough for the standardASCII code and for most alphabets of the world. Through the use of aqueuing system, all five fingers can overlap operations, therebypermitting rapid bursts of typing by rolling keys in the same direction.Furthermore, the alphabetic characters produced by the four keyswitchesare approximately arranged into groups of words with no overlappingletters. Once these groups of words are committed to memory,touch-typing can be carried out.

One object of the invention is to allow the rapid typing or data-entryof at least the full ASCII set of 128 characters with the fingers of asingle hand.

Yet another object of the invention is to permit typing by touch onlywithout the fingers being removed from their home positions.

A still further object of the invention is to provide rollover betweenthe operation of independent fingers, thereby gaining performanceadvantages over chording keyboards.

Still another object of the invention is to provide a typing systemeasily learned by memorizing a group of words with no overlappingletters.

Another object of the invention is to enable the construction offull-screen display pocket-sized text-intensive data-processingequipment such as word-processors, teleprocessing terminals, or symboliccalculators. This objective is achieved by the invention in that it canbe attached laterally, rather than frontally, to such equipment.

Yet another object of the invention is to provide a hand-held device tobe used in conjunction with head mounted video displays.

Still another object of the invention is to use the keyboard alone or inconjunction with other devices as an aid to the handicapped. Oneembodiment is as a replacement keyboard for a personal computer for aperson who prefers or must use a single hand. Another embodiment is apocket-sized deaf teletype (TTD) with full-duplex full-screencommunications. Still another embodiment is to use the invention inconjunction with an electromechanical braille-display for the blind.

A further object of this invention is to allow data-entry to be done inconjunction with "pointing" by means of a pointing or positioning devicesuch as a tablet, light-pen, trackball, or mouse. The operator cancontrol a pointing device with one hand while typing with the other.Furthermore, an embodiment of this invention includes the keyboard beingintegrated with a positioning device to construct a combinedpoint-and-type device.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

These and other objects and embodiments of the present invention may beunderstood by referring to the following drawings:

FIG. 1 is a diagrammatic representation of one embodiment of a keyboardaccording to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a exploded view of a diagrammatic representation of one of theinner keyswitches shown in FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 shows the six positions of the finger keyswitch shown in FIG. 2.

FIG. 4 shows a simplified version of a finite state machine (FSM)associated with the finger keyswitch shown in FIG. 2.

FIG. 5 is a state transition diagram for the finger keyswitch shown inFIG. 2.

FIG. 6 is a view of a diagrammatic representation of the thumb keyswitchshown in FIG. 1.

FIG. 7 is a simplified version of a finite state machine (FSM)associated with a portion of the thumb keyswitch shown in FIG. 6.

FIG. 8 is a state transition diagram for the thumb keyswitch shown inFIG. 6.

FIG. 9 is one of many possible arrangements of key paths for definingcharacters according to this invention.

FIG. 10 depicts a block diagram for an encoder with a reservation queuefor achieving rollover according to this invention.

FIG. 11 depicts a full-screen display pocket-sized data-processingequipment according to this invention.

FIG. 12 depicts a one-hand keyboard arranged for desktop or portable useaccording to this invention.

FIG. 13 depicts a point and type device contemplated according to thisinvention.

FIG. 14 is a block diagram of the reservation queue of FIG. 10.

FIGS. 15 and 16 are flow charts of the logic of the reservation queue ofFIG. 14.

FIG. 17 is an illustration of another key switch according to thepresent invention.

FIG. 18 is a three dimensional view of the states of the keyswitch ofFIG. 17.

FIG. 19A and 19B is a state transition diagram for the keyswitch of FIG.17.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Various embodiments of the invention may be described in threedimensions: The "width" is the number of keyswitches; the "height" isthe number of characters each keyswitch is capable of encoding; and the"depth" is the number of shifting states. The preferred embodiment is 4by 7 by 5 according to these dimensions: four keyswitches, each of whichcan send seven characters, times five shifted states. Otherorganizations can be used, such as 8 by 7 by 2, 2 by 45 by 2, 2 by 17 by5, 8 by 4 by 4, 6 by 6 by 4, or 5 by 7 by 4. For purposes of exposition,the construction of one embodiment will be carried through in detail,but it is understood that the scope and spirit of this invention is notlimited to this 4 by 7 by 5 embodiment.

FIG. 1 shows one embodiment of the invention. It includes four complexfinger keyswitches 1, one for each finger, and a shift and spaceassembly thumb keyswitch 2 to be operated by the thumb and whichincludes space bar 13. The housing 3 for the entire device 20 isdependent on the use it will be put to.

FIG. 2 shows a detailed exploded view of one embodiment of the fingerkeyswitch 1 which is usually replicated four times in FIG. 1. In thisembodiment, three miniature lever switches 4a-c are used with anassembly comprised of a platform 5 and a post 6. The platform can tiltforward and backwards on a two-piece countersunk axle 7 in holes 5b and5c, and by tilting actuates either of the two outside switches 4a and4c. The center post 6 passes through the center hole 5a of the platform5, and is connected at its top to a pyramid-shaped keytop 8. The centerpost is connected at its bottom to a semicylindrical retainer 9. Thevertical movement of the center post 6 is limited upwardly by theretainer 9 and limited downwardly by activating the center switch 4b.The home position, which is top and center, of the entire keyswitch 1 ismaintained by a spring 10 around the center post 6 between the keytop 8and the platform 5, as well as by springs (not shown) within the leverswitches 4a, 4b and 4c.

The pyramid-shaped keytop 8 permits the actuation of the keyswitch 1 bythe top joint of each finger rather than requiring the fingertip, andthe semicylindrical retainer 9 allows the platform to tilt while thecenter post is pressed down. This construction allows the keyswitch 1two independent degrees of freedom UP/DOWN and FORWARD/CENTER/BACK, andthus six different positions all together. While a pyramid shape isshown, it is contemplated that other shape keytops, including ones whichcapture the fingertip, can be used.

FIG. 3 diagrammatically shows the six positions of the keyswitch 1. Thepositions correspond to the states of the three switches and each switch4a-c has two states, "0" and "1". The home position, center and up, hasall of the switches open and is (000). Forward and up has one switchclosed and is (100) while forward and down has two switches closed andis (110). The other switch positions shown in FIG. 3 are similarlyindicated.

Since keyswitch 1 construction can be manufactured by the sameprinciples as any other type of electrical switch, there are manyembodiments of the keyswitch 1 possible, including, but not limited to:other mechanical arrangements, and the use of capacitive means, membranemeans, mercury means, optoelectric and various magnetic concepts andarrangements such as reed relays and hall-effect switches.

Although the keyswitch 1 is capable of 6 positions, a novel encodingtechnique allows each keyswitch 1 to send 7 characters instead of only5, by utilizing paths or transitions rather than positions. FIG. 4 showsa scheme used for encoding each keyswitch path. In FIG. 4, two changesin the position of the keyswitch 1 are required to transmit a character.The first change in position "reserves" a place in a queue of charactersbeing transmitted. It is the second change in position which identifiesthe character and causes a signal to be "emitted" or produced. The term"emit" is used in FIG. 4 to show the character 1-7 which are emitted.FIG. 5 shows a state transition diagram relating to FIG. 4.

In FIG. 5, the states are depicted as three-bit binary numbers incircles which indicate the open (0) or closed (1) state of each leverswitch as indicated in FIG. 3. Every possible transition is included,shown as arrows between states, and the corresponding actions areindicated by the following labels on the arrows: R for "reserve" and E1through E7 for "Emit character 1" through "Emit character 7".

FIG. 5 also shows a "quick repeat" feature. For example, after thekeyswitch 1 is moved from (000) to (001) and then to (011) to emit E2,movement to (001) and back to (011) will repeat E2, saving some fingermotion. This is also possible for E3, E5 and E6 as shown in FIG. 5.Furthermore, it is contemplated that holding a keyswitch in the sameposition for a second, without other keyboard activity, will operate asan auto-repeat feature such as for spacing, tabbing and backspacing, asin conventional keyboards.

Reserving a place in a queue of characters being transmitted enables"rollover". One finger can "start" to produce one character and anotherfinger can "start" to produce a different character without disturbingthe queuing of the first character. This "rollover" from producing onecharacter to producing a second character allows rapid typing because nointerference between the characters occurs. The queuing feature will bedescribed hereinafter.

FIG. 6 shows a view of one embodiment the thumb keyswitch 2 to control5-way shifting and a space-bar. Three lever switches 11a-c are used forthe states shown in FIG. 7. The thumb keyswitch 2 has two parts. Acurved block 12 is used to activate two (11b and 11c) of the threeswitches 11a-c when block 12 is rolled to either side. The block 12 iscam-shaped so that when it is rotated by a thumb around axle 14 it firstcloses one switch and then a second. The order of these closures dependson the direction of rotation. Thus, the states shown in FIG. 7 areobtained.

A rectangular block 13 with an elliptical hole (not shown) is used toactivate the remaining switch 11a. The block 13 is operatedindependently of the block 12 and is generally referred to as the "spacebar" herein despite its broad function. The space bar can produce aspace and can also provide a "lock" of the mode of the block 12. Bothblocks 12 and 13 are constrained in their movement by the axle 14. Aswith the keyswitch 1, there are manymechanical/electrical/optical/magnetic embodiments anticipated for theshift/space mechanism as well.

There are numerous embodiments of the state control, which include, atleast, prefix-coding, where the shift-state is used only by the nextcharacter; momentary, where the shift-state is defined as long as it isheld (typical for QWERTY keyboards); and locked, where a shift-state isdefined until it is undone (as in a caps-lock switch). The use ofprefix-coding is advantageous for capitalization and punctuation, whilea locked coding is useful for typing a sequence of capital letters ornumbers.

FIG. 8 shows, using a similar notation as FIG. 5, a preferred embodimentof a finite-state machine which interprets the actions of the controlkeyswitch 2. The state of each switch is represented by "0" or "1". Theactions on the arrows represent signalling actions useful to transmitdifferent classes of characters from the keyboard: LOWER-CASE,UPPER-CASE, CONTROL, NUMERIC, and PUNCTUATION. Because of the rolloverscheme described below, the preferred embodiment uses prefixed andlocked control, rather than momentary control. Engaging the space barwill either produce a space (001) or produce a "lock".

Given the 7 characters which can be emitted by each of the fingerkeyswitches, the 4 finger keyswitches which are provided, and the 5shift-states which can be controlled by the thumb keyswitch 2, theembodiment herein is capable of sending 140 different characters as wellas a space character. FIG. 9 shows a table for one embodiment of theinvention to produce the 128 ASCII characters which are standard fordata-processing applications.

It has been determined that the organization of letters produced by thekeyswitches 1 into groups of words with no overlapping letters ismnemonically valuable in learning to use the invention, or any othercharacter-arrayed keyboard. The group of 7 words, VERB, QWZ (as "quiz"),JOCK, SIP, DANG, FLUX, and MYTH is only one possible embodiment of thisnovel organization. FIG. 9 shows the relationship between these wordsand the corresponding paths of the keyswitches. The selection of thearrangements for producing characters by the keyswitches 1 takes intoaccount a variety of factors. Convenience for memory is a desirableaspect, as well as the location of both frequent characters and frequentmultiple-character sequences. It is desirable to have frequent letterssuch as "e" and "s" produced by highly mobile fingers, and it is alsodesirable to have common bigrams such as "th" and "er" in the sameposition on adjacent keyswitches 1 to take advantage of rollover.

FIG. 10 is a block diagram of an embodiment of an encoder for thisinvention. The keys are connected to finite-state machines 15 which sendcommands to a reservation queue 16, which in turn coordinates theactions of all the switches and sequentially sends characters to thehost data-processing device. The encoder uses a read-only memory (ROM)17 to convert from shift-state, key-number and key-value informationinto ASCII characters. This encoder can be embodied in discrete logic,in custom integrated circuitry, in firmware for a micro-controller, oras software in the host itself.

The reservation queue is a queue which services several suppliers ofinputs, and accepts both reservations and emissions from thosesuppliers. When a reservation is received, an opening is left openwaiting for an emission. When an emission is received, the queue ischecked for an open reservation from that supplier. If no reservation isfound, the emission enters at the end of the queue. If a reservation isfound, the emission fills that opening.

The instant mechanism coordinates rollover in the invention. As specificsequences of two state transitions are necessary to emit a character byone of the keyswitches, when a switch moves from home position (000) to,say, (100), it is unknown whether character 6 or 7 ultimately is to besent, and therefore a reservation is made. If in the process, adifferent keyswitch is actuated to emit character 3, (by the path000-010-011), that character is queued behind the reservation for thefirst character. When the first keyswitch is moved from (100) to (110)or (000) the reservation is replaced with the character value 6 or 7,respectively. In this way, very rapid bursts of characters can be sentwith almost simultaneous finger movements. Thus, "rollover" is achievedfrom the action of one finger to the action of another finger before thefirst finger has completed its sequence for emitting a character.

For example, to type "VERB", the fingers are sequentially rolled forwardand then released in any order. To type "JORDAN" as another example, thefirst and second keyswitches are pressed down in order, and then thefirst three keyswitches are simultaneously rolled forward and thenreleased; then the first three keyswitches are pressed down in order andthen simultaneously pulled back and released. This form of rolloverprovides the invention with significant typing speed advantages overchorded keyboards.

FIG. 11 depicts a full-screen display pocket-sized data-processingsystem 30 according to this invention. The invention is packagedtogether with a display device 32 with the keyboard 34 being connectedor mounted onto the side of the housing. This allows the display 32 tocover the entire front. This embodiment can use the followingtechnologies: liquid-crystal display, plasma panel, or thin-filmtransistor. It can be seen that this aspect of the invention enables thedevelopment of full-screen pocket text-handling devices, such asterminals, word-processors, and symbolic calculators.

FIG. 12 depicts a stand-alone single-hand keyboard 40 for desktop orportable use according to the invention.

FIG. 13 depicts a point and type device according to this invention. Thekeyboard 51 is packaged with a mechanical or optical mouse with theusual roller-ball 52 which allows simultaneous pointing of a cursor andtyping.

FIG. 14-16 relate to the reservation queue referred to in FIG. 10. Aqueue is a widely practiced technique comprised of a first-in-first-outmemory list which is used to sequentially order data words arrivingasynchronously from several data sources in order to present the wordssequentially to a data sink. In practice, a queue is a random accessmemory combined with two pointers called top and bottom. When a wordarrives at a queue, it is inserted into the memory position indicated bythe bottom pointer, which is incremented. The receiving process fetchesthe word in the memory location indicated by the top pointer, which isincremented.

The reservation queue 16 according to the invention is a modification ofa queue to handle the case in which the data sources need to reservelocations in the queue before they know what data word they wish toplace there. This is a general modification of the data structure, witha preferred embodiment for this invention, in order to allow rapidtyping though rollover. When a switch is moved from home position, itreserves a location, and when a switch emits a character, the queue isfirst searched for reservations for that switch. Reserved locations arenot allowed to be dequeued until they are filled.

As shown in FIG. 14, each memory element in the queue comprises threefields, the shift-state, the key-number, and the key-value. In thepreferred embodiment, the shift-state field holds a 3-bit binary codegenerated by the thumb switch, the key-number field holds a 2-bit binarycode indicating which of the 4 keys is being represented, and thekey-value field holds a 3-bit number indicating which of the 7characters has been emitted. In the case when a reservation has beenmade, a special reserved code ("000") is stored in this field.

As shown, the queue is a RAM which holds a finite number of 8 bit wordsand has a top of queue pointer register 181 and a bottom of queuepointer register 183 associated therewith. When a word is applied to thequeue, the bottom register 183 is incremented and when the receiverremoves a word from the queue, it increments the top register 181. Datawords are applied to a receiver which is ROM 17.

As shown in FIG. 14, the shift state which is 3 bits generated by theshifter logic 152 as shown in FIG. 8, the key-number which is a 2 bitcode generated by the logic 151 and which identifies which of the foursymbol keys has been pressed, and a 3 bit key-value which corresponds tothe values shown in FIG. 5 and which is also generated by the logic 151.

FIG. 15 shows the logic sequence for character addresses to be enqueuedin the reservation queue 16. As shown in step 101, if a key is pressed,a search pointer register 182 is set to the top of the reservation queuein step 102. Thereafter, the search queue pointer register 182 is usedto incrementally search the queue for an element whose key-numbermatches the current key, and whose key value is 000 (reserved). If yes,and the key value is zero, the value is substituted in reservation queuein steps 104 and 105. If not, then the search pointer register 182 isincremented in step 106. After incrementing the search pointer, if thesearch pointer is not equal to the bottom of the reservation queue asdetermined by the register 183 in step 107, the logic looks to see ifthe current key pressed matches the key stored in the reservation queue.This procedure continues until the search pointer is at the bottom ofthe reservation queue. At that point, if no match is found the 8 bits ofthe character code are added to the bottom of the reservation queue instep 108 and the bottom of the reservation queue pointer register 183 isincremented in step 109. If there is a prefix, space or unlock code fromthe shift-state in step 110, then the shifter logic state of shifterlogic 152 is reset in step 110A and the logic awaits the next keypressed.

FIG. 16 shows the logic related to obtaining a character address fromthe reservation queue under the control of the computer 184. Thecomputer first issues a get character command and when this is receivedat step 111, the logic looks to see if the top of the queue pointerregister 181 equals the bottom of the queue pointer register 183. If so,then the reservation queue is empty and the character "0" is returned atstep 113. If not, the logic looks to see the contents of the key-valuefield at the top of the reservation queue If this value is "0" then a"0" is returned. If not, the ROM table look-up 17 uses the reservationqueue character address from step 115 to return the corresponding ASCIIcharacter value in step 116. Thereafter the top of the queue pointerregister 181 is decremented in step 117.

Another embodiment of the invention comprises at least one keyswitchcapable of moving in one of five possible directions in threedimensions. As shown in FIG. 17, the keyswitch can be moved from thehome position forward, back, down, left and right. This switch can beimplemented in the form of a joystick movable in two axes with adepressible grip or handle as shown. As shown in FIG. 18, this switch ismovable from the home state to one of 17 other states located at thevertices, centers and edges of a 3×3×2 rectangular solid. Each of the 18switch positions is represented by a unique binary value which signifiesits location relative to the home position. A "1" in the leftmost placeindicates a location to the left of the home position, a "1" in therightmost place indicates a location to the right of the home position,a "1" in the second place from the left indicates a location forward ofthe home position, a "1" in the second place from the right indicates alocation behind the home position and a "1" in the center placeindicates a location down or below the home position. For example, thedigits 01101 indicate a position forward, down and to the right of thehome position.

FIG. 19A and 19B illustrates the paths consisting of up to three statetransitions that can be taken from the home position. As shown, 45unique characters or symbols can be represented using this encodingscheme with a single switch.

It is understood that the embodiments described in detail and by diagramare for the purposes of illustration and concentrate on a single system.The invention clearly has many variants, and the variants which fallwithin the spirit and scope of this invention are defined by thefollowing claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A data input device for producing signalscorresponding to symbols, comprising:at least two manually actuatableswitches, each manually actuatable switch having a plurality of discretestates and manually actuatable along a first path from a given state toa first state selected from a set of first states at one statetransition from the given state, and manually actuatable along a secondpath from the first state to a second state selected from a set ofsecond states at one state transition from the first state; means forproducing a first signal corresponding to the first path from the givenstate to the first state, means for storing the first signal, means forproducing a second signal corresponding to the second path from thefirst state to the second state output means for producing an outputsignal representing one symbol in response to at least the sequence intime of the stored first signal and second signal and based upon saidfirst and second paths associated with two consecutive state transitionsof a switch between the three states consisting of the given state, thefirst state and the second state, said output means having reservationqueuing means for effecting the production of output signals in an orderbased on the order of production of the first signals from each switch,said reservation queuing means comprising means for receiving the firstand second signals from the switches in the order produced, a storagequeue, means for reserving a location in the storage queue based solelyon the order of receipt of a first signal from a switch, means forreceiving the second signal from each switch with its associated firstsignal and storing said one symbol in the corresponding reserved storagequeue location, and means for producing the output signals bysequentially accessing symbols stored in the storage queue.
 2. Thedevice according to claim 1, comprising a plurality of said manuallyactuatable switches, each constituting a symbol switch and furthercomprising a control switch for producing a third signal and wherein theoutput means comprises means for producing the output signalrepresenting one symbol in response to first and second signals from onesymbol switch and the third signal from the control switch.
 3. Thedevice according to claim 2, wherein the actuation of any switch and theproduction of its first and second signals can overlap in time with theactuation and signal production of any other switch and the output meansfurther comprises reservation queuing means for effecting the productionof output signals in an order based solely on the order of production offirst signals from each switch, said reservation queuing meanscomprising means receptive of the first and second signals from theswitches in the order produced, means for joining the first and secondsignals from each switch and means for determining the order ofproduction of the output signals based solely on the order of productionof the first signals from each switch.
 4. The device of claim 2, whereinthe control switch is a thumb switch having a plurality of positions andoperable for generating a plurality of different third signals.
 5. Thedevice of claim 1, comprising a plurality of said manually actuatableswitches.
 6. The device of claim 5, comprising four switches.
 7. Thedevice of claim 5, wherein each switch is mechanically operable forresponding to movements of a fingertip.
 8. The device of claim 5,wherein each switch has six positions generally arranged at points in a2×3 matrix of points, the rest position being at a point other than avertex of the matrix.
 9. The device of claim 5, wherein said switchesare arranged relative to each other and assigned alphabetical symbolscorresponding to paths such that the groups of alphabetical symbolsproduced by said switches for corresponding paths represents mnemonicgroups of letters.
 10. A computer system comprising the device ofclaim
 1. 11. The system according to claim 10, comprising a plurality ofsaid manually actuatable switches, each constituting a symbol switch andfurther comprising a control switch for producing a third signal andwherein the output means comprises means for producing the output signalrepresenting one symbol in response to first and second signals from onesymbol switch and the third signal from the control switch.
 12. Thedevice according to claim 11, wherein the actuation of any switch andthe production of its first and second signals can overlap in time withthe actuation and signal production of any other switch and the outputmeans further comprises reservation queuing means for effecting theproduction of output signals in an order based solely on the order ofproduction of first signals from each switch, said reservation queuingmeans comprising means receptive of the first and second signals fromthe switches in the order produced, means for joining the first andsecond signals from each switch and means for determining the order ofproduction of the output signals based solely on the order of productionof the first signals from each switch.
 13. A word processor comprisingthe device of claim
 1. 14. A full-scale display pocket-sizeddata-processing system comprising a housing and the device of claim 1.15. The system of claim 14, wherein said device is connected to a sideof said housing to enable the display to cover the entire front of thesaid housing.
 16. The device of claim 1, wherein each at least onemanually actuatable switch is manually actuatable along a third pathfrom the second state to a third state selected from a set of thirdstates at one state transition from the second state, wherein the meansfor producing the first and second signals has means for producing athird signal corresponding to the third path from the second state tothe third state and means for storing the third signal and wherein theoutput means has means for producing an output signal representing onesymbol in response to at least the sequence in time of the stored first,second and third signals and based upon the path associated with threeconsecutive state transitions of the switch between the four statesconsisting of the given state, the first state, the second state and thethird state and whereby the third state constitutes the given state forthe next first signals to be produced.
 17. A data input method forproducing signals corresponding to symbols, comprising the stepsof:manually actuating at least one of two manually actuatable switches,each switch having a plurality of discrete states along a first pathfrom a given state to a first state selected from a set of first statesat one state transition from the given state to produce a first signalcorresponding to the first path from the given state to the first state;storing the first signal; reserving a location in a reservation storagequeue based solely on the order of production of the first signal formeach switch; manually actuating said manually actuatable switches alonga second path from the first state to a second state selected from a setof second states at one state transition from the first state to producea second signal corresponding to the second path from the first state tothe second state; receiving the second signal from each switch with itsassociated first signal to produce and output signal representing onesymbol in response to at least the sequence in time of the first andsecond signals and based upon said first and second paths associatedwith two consecutive state transitions of the switch; storing said onesymbol in the corresponding reservation storage queue location reservedby the first signal; and producing output signals by sequentiallyaccessing symbols stored in the reservation storage queue.
 18. Themethod according to claim 17, comprising manually actuating a pluralityof said switches, each constituting a symbol switch and manuallyactuating a control switch to produce a third signal and wherein thestep of producing the output signal representing one symbol comprisesproducing the output signal in response to first and second signals fromeach symbol switch and the third signal from the control switch.
 19. Themethod according to claim 18, wherein the actuation of any switch andthe production of its first and second signals can overlap in time withthe actuation and signal production of any other switch and the step ofproducing an output signal further comprises effecting the production ofoutput signals in an order based solely on the order of production offirst signals from each switch by receiving the first and second signalsfrom the switches in the order produced, joining the first and secondsignals from each switch and determining the order of production of theoutput signals based solely on the order of production of the firstsignals from each switch.
 20. The method of claim 17, wherein the stepsof actuating comprise mechanically moving with a fingertip.
 21. Themethod of claim 17, further comprises the steps of:manually actuatingthe at least one manually actuatable switch along a third path from saidsecond state to a third state selected from a set of third states at onestate transition from the second state to produce a third signalcorresponding to the third path; and wherein the step of producing anoutput signal comprises producing a signal representing one symbol inresponse to at least the sequence in time of the first, second and thirdsignals.
 22. A data input device for producing signals corresponding tosymbols, comprising:at least two actuatable switches, each independentlyactuatable from a given state to an end state through at least two statetransitions and wherein actuation of one switch can overlap in time withthe actuation of any other switch; means for producing for each switchat least first and second signals associated with a first and secondstate transition of the switch; means receptive of the first and secondsignals from each switch in time sequence, wherein reception of a secondsignal from any switch need not be received prior to the reception ofthe first or second signals from any other switch; and output means forproducing output signals representing symbols in response to at leastthe first and second signals from each switch, said output meanscomprising reservation queuing means for effecting the production ofoutput signals in an order based solely on the order of production ofthe first signals from each switch, said queuing means comprising meansreceptive of the signals from the switches in the order produced, afirst-in/first-out storage queue, means for reserving a location in thestorage queue based solely on the order of receipt of a first signalfrom a switch, means for joining the second signal from each switch withits associated first signal in the corresponding reserved queue locationand means for producing the output signals by sequentially accessing, ona first-in/first-out basis, joined signals stored in the queue which arenot preceded by a reserved queue location.
 23. The device of claim 22,comprising a plurality of switches.
 24. The device of claim 23, whereinsaid switches are arranged relative to each other and assignedalphabetical symbols corresponding to paths such that the groups ofalphabetical symbols produced by said switches for corresponding pathsrepresent mnemonic groups of letters.
 25. A data input method forproducing signals corresponding to symbols, comprising the stepsof:independently actuating at least two actuatable switches each from agiven state to an end state through at least two state transitions andwherein actuation of one switch can overlap in time with the actuationof any other switch; producing for each switch at least first and secondsignals associated with a first and second state transition of theswitch; providing a first-in/first-out storage queue receptive of thefirst and second signals from each switch in time sequence, whereinreception of a second signal from any switch need not be received priorto the reception of the first and second signals from any other switch;and producing output signals representing symbols in response to atleast the first and second signals from each switch by effecting theproduction of output signals in an order based solely on the order ofproduction of the first signals from each switch, comprising receivingthe signals from the switches in the order produced, reserving alocation in the storage queue based solely on the order of receipt of afirst signal from a switch and joining the second signal from eachswitch with its associated first signal in the corresponding reservedqueue location for producing the output signals by sequentiallyaccessing, on a first-in/first-out basis, joined signals stored in thequeue and which are not preceded by a reserved queue location.
 26. Adata input device for producing signals corresponding to symbols,comprising:at least one manually actuatable switch having a given state,and manually actuatable from the given state, through a single change instate, to a first state selected from a set of possible first states,and manually actuatable from the first state, through a single change instate, to a second state selected from a set of possible second states;means for producing a first signal encoding the given and first statesupon detection of the first state transition that occurs in going fromthe given state to the first state, means for storing the first signal,means for producing a second signal encoding the first and second statesupon detection of the second state transition that occurs in going fromthe first state to the second state; output means for producing anoutput signal representing one symbol in response to at least thesequence of first and second signals encoding the three statesassociated with two consecutive state transitions of the switch, saidoutput means having reservation queuing means for effecting theproduction of output signals in an order based on the order ofproduction of the first signals from each switch, said reservationqueuing means comprising means for receiving the first and secondsignals form the switches in the order produced, a storage queue, meansfor reserving a location in the storage queue based solely on the orderof receipt of a first signal from a switch, means for receiving thesecond signal from each switch with its associated first signals andstoring said one symbol in the corresponding reserved storage queuelocation, and means for producing the output signals by sequentiallyaccessing the symbols stored in the storage queue.
 27. The deviceaccording to claim 26, further comprising:a manually actuable controlswitch for producing a third signal, and output means further comprisingmeans for producing an output signal in response to at least said thirdsignal and the sequence of stored first and second signals.
 28. Aplurality of symbol switch devices according to claim 27, wherein eachsymbol switch produces a set of output signals corresponding to a uniqueset of symbols.
 29. The device according to claim 28, wherein said thirdsignal utilized by each symbol switch is produced by a single, commoncontrol switch.
 30. The device according to claim 29,wherein actuationof any symbol switch and its production of signals can overlap in timewith the actuation of any other symbol switch and its signal production,and further comprising; means receptive of the first and output signalsfrom each symbol switch wherein reception of an output signal from anysymbol switch need not be received prior to the reception of the firstsignal or output signal from any other switch; and output means foreffecting the production of output signals from the plurality of symbolswitches in an order based solely upon the order of reception of thefirst signals from each symbol switch, said output means comprisingreservation queuing means receptive of the first and output signals fromthe symbol switches in the order in which they are produced, afirst-in/first-out storage queue, means for reserving a location in thestorage queue for a pending symbol switch output signal upon receptionof the symbol switch first signal, means for placing the output signalof a symbol switch in the queue location reserved for it by the symbolswitch first signal, and means for producing output signalscorresponding to symbols by sequentially accessing, on afirst-in/first-out basis, symbol switch output signals stored in thequeue which are not preceded by a reserved queue location.